Chicken Wuss
by Pooch
Summary: Zell's hidden feelings about himself. Fourth part added recently.
1. Part One

****

Chicken Wuss

By Alex and Dave

Disclaimer: I don't own FF, it belongs to Square, and the song "Lean on Me" belongs to Bill Withers.

I thought of writing this after attending A World of Difference in the past few days. A World of Difference is a program that recognizes diversity. I thought it was stupid, but they had a good point. At one point, we discussed how name calling hurts, and that's how I got the idea for this fic.

Zell's feelings about his life.

Zell sat on his bed in his dorm. He had been there for almost an hour, just sitting. Alone. When he was alone for long periods of time, he thought too much. That's exactly what had happened. He had been thinking too much.

He was thinking about his life, and the way things were. He had come to believe that his life was not going the way he wanted.

Just this morning, he had been late for his first class, and was sprinting down the hall, when he ran right into Seifer. Seifer had pushed him on the ground and said, "Get the hell out of my way, chicken wuss. You don't deserve to walk in my presence."

Zell had quietly apologized and continued on his way, watching where he was going this time. When he finally did arrive to his class, his instructor yelled at him and assigned him a 5-page paper on the causes and effects of the Sorceress' War as his punishment.

They really didn't let you slack off in Garden. Any excuse was taken as bullshit and you never got off easy.

After his classes, he had gone to hang out with Irvine, Selphie, and Quistis in the Quad. They, and a few other Garden Festival members, were building a stage. He had gone to sit with them; they didn't look too busy. Actually, they seemed to be in a conversation. 

As he approached them, Irvine turned to him and said, "Zell, we don't need you here, everything's taken care of. We have all the help we need." 

Zell looked back towards the stage to see four students, no more, struggling to carry a huge platform over to the stage. He looked back right after one fell and they dropped the large sheet of wood. "It looks like they could use some help, and you three don't seem to be contributing too much."

"I said, you are of no use to us. Go eat a hot dog or something, chicken wuss."

Selphie slapped him on the arm. "Irvine! That wasn't very nice! Apologize to him!"

Irvine had turned to say he was sorry, that he was having a bad day, but it was too late. Zell was running up the steps to get out of there. 

From there he had gone to Rinoa's dorm. They had come to be close friends since they defeated Ultimecia. He knocked on the door, but she didn't answer. He tried again and thought he heard something. "Rinoa?" he said to the door. He heard a giggle, and then he heard someone whipser "Shh!" and he knew why she wasn't answering her door. Squall was in there with her. 

He wanted someone to talk to. Irvine, Selphie, and Quistis didn't want him near, and Squall and Rinoa were busy. He thought he'd try Dr. Kadowaki.

On his way to the Infirmary, he saw Seifer and his posse, and quickly turned and went the other way, in hopes that they wouldn't see him. His hopes were let down as he heard a "Hey! Chicken wuss!"

He kept walking, but heard heavy footsteps behind him and was violently spun around by a strong hand on his shoulder and found himself face to chest with Seifer. He looked up.

"When I call someone, they answer, understand?"

Zell nodded nervously. His voice cracked as he said, "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought I'd get a little payback for this morning."

"I said I was sorry."

"Sorry's not enough, shit head. You'll be punished accordingly by the Disciplinary Committee for being late to a class, and injuring a fellow student."

Zell looked shocked. "But you're fine!"

"Am I?" Seifer took out his gunblade, faced the tip of the blade towards Zell, and bashed himself in the nose with the butt. His nose started to bleed, and was horribly disfigured. He had just broken his own nose. "Who do you think they'll believe?"

"You can't do that! Why are you out to get me!?"

"Because, you're easy."

Zell felt tears collecting in his eyes, and ran off before the situation got any worse. He heard Seifer shout, "You little shit! Get back here! I'm not done with you yet!"

But Zell escaped back to his dorm and locked his door before Seifer could get him. 

That had been about an hour and a half ago. 

He felt so alone. He had no one. And that's all he wanted, someone. He wanted someone to be there for him like Rinoa was there for Squall when he was having a shit day. 

Rinoa…she was a great person to talk to, but she was too wrapped up in Squall. They were on the verge of obsession. He didn't think they'd last. It was the most dependent relationship he'd ever seen. It wasn't bound to last much longer. 

Plus, she always put Squall in front of everything and everyone else, which made it hard to get a chance to talk to her, so in fact, she wasn't really there for him as much as he'd previously thought.

Then there was Seifer. All he ever got from Seifer was endless name-calling and torture. What had he ever done to deserve this? He guessed it was just impossible to like him. Look at how Irvine had treated him. He assumed Quistis and Selphie felt the same way. Unfortunately, he hadn't heard Selphie defend him.

He wasn't wanted around here, he figured. Why not move to Galbadia Garden or Trabia Garden? He'd just get the same behavior from them, but it would be from strangers, not his friends. Nothing hurt him more than strangers making stereotypes. 

No one ever took him seriously. They thought he was the stupid one they could always pick on, and he always went along with it. They always rejected his ideas. His stupid ideas. Why did he even bother making suggestions? They always told him they were dumb ideas. That hurt, that they didn't consider him their equal. He was always the scapegoat. It was always his fault, and even when it wasn't, they made it seem like it was.

And no one ever asked him if he was okay. How it was going. Not even a "What's up."

He came to the conclusion that he served no purpose; that no one wanted him here. _What about Ma?_ A voice inside his head asked. 

He sighed and thought to himself, _She never loved me. I'm just an orphan._

He got up from the bed and walked over to the window. After thinking for a minute, he punched out the glass. He pulled his hand back to find it covered in blood. He took one of the shards of glass from the floor and put it against his throat. He started sobbing uncontrollably. He pressed the sharp glass harder against his throat, but suddenly threw the shard down on the ground. A note. He had to write a note, to let everyone know that they could live in peace now that he was gone.

He opened his desk drawer and found a pen and a note pad. He sat at his desk and thought carefully before writing:

To Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie, and to anyone else who might care;

I was never wanted. Even in childhood. My parents didn't want me, so they gave me up. At the orphanage, no one ever talked to me, and when they did, they were the best days of my life. As a teenager at Garden, I was not accepted. I didn't really have any solid friendships. I'd talk to someone here or there, but it was nothing more than a conversation. I was so happy when I was finally able to take the SeeD field test. I thought, 'Finally! A chance to meet and bond with people!' And I didn't at first, but then I found some friends. Five actually. I thought they were great people, but then I got to know their real sides. I became close with one, and I love her dearly, but she puts her boyfriend before anyone or anything else. I'll be laughing in hell when you two break up. The other three use me as the one to put all faults on. It was my fault when Irvine broke Cid's chair. It was my fault when Rinoa and Squall were caught doing inappropriate things in his dorm. Apparently I dared them to and told them that if they didn't, I would hurt them. It was my fault when Quistis got drunk and took a bunch of Trepies to the Secret Area and whipped them until they couldn't walk. I guess I made her get drunk. Should I keep going? 

I'm always the one that's laughed at for being stupid. I'm always the one that's picked on. I'm always the one who's not wanted. Not by you guys, not by my parents, not by my adoptive mother, and not by anyone. Seifer knows this, he always lets me know I'm a chicken wuss and that I'm worth nothing. He tells it how it is, and I respect him for that. 

All I've ever wanted is for someone to be there for me. Someone who cares, who asks me if everything is all right, if I need anything. There's a song from a long time ago. It goes: "Lean on me, when you're not strong, and I'll be your friend. I'll help you carry on." What I wouldn't give for someone like the man who wrote that song. No one on earth has been that for me. I've never had some one to lean on.

I do realize the consequences for what I'm about to do. I'm sure the devil will accept me with open arms. He's the only one who will.

-Zell

He put down his pen and stood up. He read over the letter and, satisfied, placed it on his pillow. 

He walked back over to the window and picked up the glass again. He sat on his bed, leaning against the wall. He put the sharpest end of the glass up to his neck. He cried harder than he had ever cried before. His hand was shaking, and the glass cut into his neck bit by bit as his hand moved constantly. He felt a small trickle of blood run down his neck and over his collarbone. He closed his eyes and pushed the shard deep into his neck, and then moved it from one side of his neck to the other. His mouth filled with blood and he dropped the glass. Blood poured out of the fatal gash in his neck. He opened his eyes, but his vision was dim. It got darker and darker until it faded to black. 

And Zell was gone.

The End.


	2. Part Two

Discovery

By Alex and Dave

Sort of an epilogue to Chicken Wuss. Someone finds Zell's letter, and I think I picked the most appropriate person to do it.

=============

Seifer was pissed. He knew Zell had gone into his dorm, but he'd been in there for over two hours. He had to come out eventually.

Fujin and Raijin were watching him pace, fists clenched, jaw tight. They couldn't figure out why he was so mad at Zell. Fujin wanted to kick him in the shin, but was afraid that he might do to her what he had done to his nose.

"Why isn't he coming out? Doesn't he wanna go eat a hotdog or something?"

"Calm down, man. You're overreacting, ya know?" Raijin stated. He knew he had made a mistake when Seifer stormed over to him and looked him straight in the eye.

"I am NOT overreacting. He deserves what's coming to him." He said through clenched teeth.

"WHAT DO?" Fujin asked.

"What did he do? WHAT DID HE DO???" Seifer paused. "He ran into me, he could have seriously injured me.

"DIDN'T."

"Yeah, but you know he meant to."

"What makes you think that? He's scared of you, ya know. He knows you will hurt him, and that's exactly what you're doing, ya know?" Raijin responded.

"You've got a point, but still. I'm right and he's wrong here." Seifer continued his pacing.

"Irvine! GO APOLOGIZE! You really hurt his feelings!" Selphie had been begging Irvine to apologize for quite some time, but Irvine wouldn't give up his pride. 

"He'll be fine. He always gets over it. We've done much worse and he's always been cool about it." Irvine sat back, convinced that he was right.

"Maybe he's better about it, but he was obviously hurt about it. He's never run away before." Selphie got in his face. "GO! NOW!!"

"Alright, alright. Where do you think he went?"

"Check the cafeteria, maybe the Training Center or his dorm."

"K. Catch ya later, honey pie." He got up and kissed her on the cheek before he left.

"OOOH MAN!" Squall fell back on the bed. Rinoa collapsed next to him. "You're amazing, you know that?"

She looked at him. "I know. I think our neighbors know, too." She smiled at him. 

"What do you think Zell wanted?"

"Probably just wanted to talk. He always comes to me for that." Suddenly she sat up. "Shit!" She climbed over Squall and found her clothes on the floor.

"What?" Squall sat up and pulled a sheet around him.

"He always talks to me about how he's depressed!"

"So?"

"Well, I've always been able to talk before, but I wasn't today. I'm scared he went and did something stupid." She had gotten her clothes on and Squall was pulling his pants on.

"I'll go with you."

Quistis had left the Quad after listening to Irvine and Selphie fight about Zell for 20 minutes. She had gone to try and find Zell, but she couldn't find him, so she went to the library. 

She was hoping he might come by to get a book or something. She always enjoyed talking to him, but she also felt bad for him. Seifer was always picking on him and she and the others didn't treat him as well as they should. She decided that she would apologize to him next time she saw him.

"Ok, maybe you do have a point." Fujin and Raijin had been kicking some sense into Seifer for the last 10 minutes, and he was finally starting to accept the idea that he did seem to pick on Zell for no reason.

"FIND. APOLOGIZE." Fujin pointed towards the direction of Zell's room.

"Alright, fine." He started to walk, but then paused and turned around. "You know, he's not that bad. I respect him for taking all that shit from me." He smiled faintly and continued.

When he reached Zell's door, he took a breath, went over in his head what he was going to say, and then knocked on the door. "Zell? You in there?"

Nobody answered. He tried again. Nothing. "Listen, I'm really sorry for giving you all that crap…please open up." He tried turning the knob and the door opened easily. What Seifer saw made him vomit.

When he was finished, he looked back up at the horrible site in front of him. He had never seen so much blood in his life. He covered his mouth again, holding back the urge to lose it again. 

He slowly proceeded into the room. He knew he was gone, but he tried anyway. "Zell? Are…oh my god…are you still alive?" It was impossible. There was too much blood. Nobody could survive an injury like that. 

He reluctantly moved closer to Zell and saw a paper on his desk. It had writing on it. "Oh, no…" 

Seifer read it over, and by the time he was finished, he couldn't help but crying. He put the letter back down and sat down in the chair. He sat there for a moment and then fell forward onto the desk and covered his face in his arms, crying harder than he ever had in his life.

"Oh holy shit!" Seifer looked towards the door to see Irvine standing there with a horrified look on his face. Seifer stood up and approached him. He grabbed the note on the way.

"He wrote this before he did it." Irvine took the letter and read it. 

Seifer watched as Irvine went through many emotions, and then when he finished, he looked at Seifer. He still had tears in his eyes. Irvine broke down and put his face in his hands. Something compelled Seifer to do what he did next, but he didn't know what. Perhaps he was becoming a better person. He stepped towards Irvine, and put his arms around him. Irvine responded by taking off his hat and crying into Seifer's shoulder. Seifer did the same.

They were like that when Squall and Rinoa found Zell's door opened and walked in. Rinoa gasped and said "Oh my god!" and buried herself in Squall's arms. Squall just stood there in shock. He couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he couldn't do anything. 

"You, you son of a bitch. You did this to him!!" Squall walked up to Seifer and pushed him away from Irvine. "WHY? Why did you kill him?"

"I didn't kill him! Look! Read this…" Seifer handed Squall the letter. Squall read it over and looked back up at Seifer. "I was gonna come up here to apologize to him, for being such an asshole. He never deserved it. I guess I just made fun of him to make myself feel better. I was gonna say I was sorry, and I found him like this," he explained.

At that moment, Quistis walked in, but couldn't see what had happened. There were too many people in the way. "Is Zell here? I wanted to talk to him about something…why are you all here? Oh my god, what happened to Zell?" They stepped aside and Quistis saw. She covered her mouth and ran out of the room. Seifer followed her.

He got to her and spun her around. "Who did that? Who did that to him!" She had tears streaming down her face. 

Seifer held onto her arms, "He did it to himself. He left a note."

"I…he…why?" She broke down and slid to the floor. Seifer sat down in front of her. He lifted her face up and looked into her eyes. "I should tell Selphie," she said as she started to get up. She started running down the hall. Seifer let her go. He just sat in the hall. 

Squall came out of the room. "We called the hospital. They're on their way."

Seifer sighed. "I have to change." Squall looked confused. "Look what he did because of me. I might as well have murdered him. I probably was on the inside. That should be me in there, not him. He didn't deserve that. He was a good person. I'm surprised he took all that shit from me all these years, and didn't do anything about it until now. He just gave up trying to defend himself."

"What happened to your nose?" Squall asked.

"I broke it. I was trying to frame Zell. My god, I'm such a horrible person." Seifer stood up. "I have to go." He was turning the corner when Quistis and Selphie came bounding around it. 

"Where is he?" Selphie was out of breath. Squall pointed inside his dorm. Selphie and Quistis went inside, and when Squall turned back around, Seifer was gone. He looked down the hall past the corner and didn't see him. He walked down the hall.

Seifer had slipped out while Squall was watching Selphie and Quistis see Zell. He hoped nobody would come looking for him. 

He was now in the garage. As he was leaving, he saw Fujin and Raijin on his way out and told them to meet him here. They were no where to be seen. He had to get out of Balamb. He couldn't stand to be here after what he had caused Zell to do. Maybe he didn't need Fujin or Raijin. He should just forget about them and go by himself. The last thing he needed was Raijin being annoying and Fujin yelling all the time. 

He decided to just go. As he was getting into the car, he heard Squall call his name. He stopped and stood up.

"What? I need to go."

"That's the last thing you need. You have to stay here."

"Why? I'm who caused all of this."

"It was just as much all of our faults. He said he respected you, doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"It would if it were for some other reason. I don't want to be known as the guy who was respected by the person who he made take his own life. And that is exactly why I have to go." He started to get into the car.

"Wait." Squall held the door open.

"What now?" Seifer gave him an angry look.

Squall stared at him and then looked at his feet. "Nothing, go."

Seifer looked at him as he shut the door and started the engine. Rinoa entered behind Squall and watched as Seifer drove off. Squall looked down at her. He felt a pulling at his heart and he choked up. Rinoa pulled him into a hug and he felt tears running down his face. 

"He always seemed so happy. I can't believe he'd do this to himself," Squall said. "We should have treat him better. I had no idea he was like that on the inside. He really hid it well."

"He talked to me sometimes about it, but he never really mentioned what was bothering him. He would just go on about how much he hated life sometimes. He said he didn't want to tell anybody else. He said he only felt comfortable telling me, he thought that everybody else wouldn't take him seriously, or they'd make fun of him for feeling that way. I told him that they wouldn't, but he insisted they would, so he never let anybody else know."

"Why would he feel that way? He could have approached me with this, told me that he didn't like what we were doing. I would have told everyone to stop."

"I know, but there's nothing we can do now. Lets go back inside." Squall wiped his face on his sleeve and nodded. 

"You know…" Squall started, "maybe he was right."

"About what?" Rinoa asked.

"Maybe we are together too much. Maybe we are dependent of eachother."

"What are you saying, Squall…"

"I'm saying, maybe we should take a break, see if what we have is really love, or if it's just physical. See if we miss each other or what we did with each other."

"Squall, don't."

"I'm going to go away for a week. I'm not going to tell you where so you can't come find me."

"Squall, please. Isn't there another way to find out?"

"Rinoa, I think it's for the best if I go away for a little while. I also need some time to myself. I'm not going to take anything with me, I'm just going to go. Right now."

"Squall you can't leave now! Not after Zell. I need someone to go through this with." She was crying now, for many reasons.

"You have Irvine, Selphie, Quistis…I'm not the only person on this world." He hugged her and kissed her. "I'll see you later." Squall got into a car and drove off. Rinoa stood there, crying. After she couldn't hear the car anymore, she turned around and went back inside.

=========

The end.

If you think I should write another sequel, I will, but I can't guarantee that it will be out right away.


	3. Part Three

I can never deny a request for another part

I can never deny a request for another part. It's a weakness with me. 

You know, I don't know why Squall left either. I have no idea where I'm gonna go with this chapter. Everything you read here will be just made up as it happens. No planning here. I don't even know where I'm going to start out. Hmm…

Well, here goes.

@#%$#@!@#$%!@#$%$#@!@#$%^$#@!@#$%^%$#@#$%^&^%$#@#$%^%$#@

Why did he leave? Here he was, driving away from everything he knew. It wasn't like him to leave on a whim like that. He had no destination, no plans for the future. Where was he going? He didn't even have anything packed. This was bad. He was doing the wrong thing. Running away from his feelings never did him any good. He had to go back and confront what had happened. 

Squall slammed the brakes on. The car skidded to a halt before he rested his elbows on the wheel and put his face in his hands. Here he was again, abandoning Zell, even after all that had happened. He shouldn't have been feeling sorry for himself. 

"What am I doing?" he asked himself. Squall sat up and pressed his foot on the gas. He completed a U turn and sped back in the direction of Garden.

Rinoa sat in her dorm crying. Men had come to take Zell's body away. None of them had really known what to do or say, so they just sort of went their separate ways. The others didn't understand why Squall had to leave. He had left Rinoa in a complete mess. She was closer to Zell than any of them, and now she had no shoulder to cry on. She had Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine of course, but it just wasn't the same to her. She needed Squall. Rinoa knew he needed her too, but it was just like him to leave, rather than letting others see how he felt. Sure, he had changed since they defeated Ultimecia, but not completely. Squall had no problem expressing when he was happy, but he still had a hard time admitting what he felt when he was melancholy, even to her. He'd probably always be that way.

No matter how hard she tried, Rinoa couldn't stop crying. She had repeated the same pattern for a little under an hour. She'd think that her tears had stopped, but then she'd remember something, anything, the slightest reminder of Zell or anything relating to him, and she'd bury her face in her arms on the desk and tears would leak and her shoulders would heave, but she was silent. 

The wall was white. The wall was smooth. It didn't have any grooves or bumps or cracks. It was clean. It didn't move, always stayed the same. Quistis' eyes wandered down the wall, to where it met the floor. The wall's calmness ended at the floor. It stopped abruptly and didn't move any further. The floor prevented the wall from continuing. 

Why couldn't the wall continue? It had every right to. Nothing should get in the way of it. It should go on forever, living happily without a stupid floor getting in its way. The floor just ended the wall's life so suddenly. Or was it the wall that stood in the way of the floor going on? Quistis supposed they both intercepted eachother and the result was the end of each. Two separate things that seem to go on forever, but when they met, they stopped eachother from going on further. They should continue on forever, but they both had to end eventually, just not so soon. Too young. Too young to perish. Zell was too young to have met his wall. 

Quistis grew frustrated at it and threw the box of tissues, which she was holding as she sat on her bed, at the wall as hard as she could. She watched as the box flew through the air and then crashed into the wall and fell to the floor, tissues spreading on the nearby floor. The wall had done it again. 

She couldn't stay in her room any longer. She was thinking too much. Quistis hated that about herself. She had been thinking too much recently. She was like Squall that way. 

Squall. Why did he leave? Rinoa had returned to the room just as the men from the hospital arrived. Once they left with Zell, she had stated simply, "Squall left." 

"Why?" Irvine had asked. 

"I don't really know…" Rinoa then started weeping silently and quietly returned to her room. There was nothing really left for Quistis, Irvine, and Selphie to do there. They were mostly in shock at the moment. None of them could believe that Zell had actually done that to himself. Even though they had seen his body, his blood, and his note, they found it hard to accept that they wouldn't see him tomorrow, or the next day, or ever again. They didn't say anything to eachother. They just left, no one knowing where the others were headed. Quistis assumed that Irvine and Selphie returned to their dorms. She didn't know where else they could go. 

Quistis stood up and entered her bathroom. She rinsed water over her face, the coldness somewhat refreshing on her face, swollen and red from crying. She had stopped crying a long time ago. She was too much in shock to do anything besides sit and analyze the wall. 

She ran the towel over her face, slightly disappointed that the soothing cold was no longer there. Quistis sniffed and left her dorm. She didn't know where she was going to go or what she was going to do.

"I'm so sorry. He was a great person, he really was. We all loved him dearly," Irvine tried to comfort Mrs. Dincht over the phone. He thought that someone needed to tell her, but nobody else seemed to care. She was wailing her heart out on the other line. Irvine tried comforting her more, but she interrupted him, her crying suddenly stopping.

"Why would he do that to himself? He was such a happy boy! He loved everyone…he…I…why?" Mrs. Dincht trailed off quietly before breaking down again. 

"Ma'am, I'm really sorry. I have to get going." That was a lie and he knew it, but he really couldn't stand to be on the phone with her any longer. She was making him so depressed. The pain Irvine felt must have been a hundred times worse for Zell's mother. "You can, um…" He stopped when he choked up and couldn't talk for a moment. "You can visit his body at the Balamb Medical Center. They took him away about an hour ago. He's probably still there. I'm so sorry, really." Irvine placed the phone on the hook and removed his hat from his head. He turned the hat around in his hands before tossing it aimlessly towards the bed. 

The hat landed a few feet from the head of his bed. Irvine stared at it for a while before looking down at his feet. He didn't know what to think. So many emotions were running through his head, yet his expression remained the same. A blank stare. It showed absolutely no feeling whatsoever. 

Suddenly he thought something ridiculous. "It's my fault," Irvine stated to his feet. _I told him he wasn't wanted,_ he thought. A wave of guilt flowed through him. "Shit!" 

He rushed out of his room.

Selphie lay face down on her bed. Her pillow was soaked with tears. She had fallen asleep not too long ago. 

She had been pacing around her room for the past hour, sometimes stopping to pick something randomly off her desk and throw it at her wall or the floor. Due to recent events, all of Selphie's emotions had been flowing out. All her anger that she had buried deep inside now surfaced into a blinding rage of tears. She had been ranting and crying with shock, disbelief, and sadness. 

Irvine burst into her room and Selphie was awakened by the sudden intrusion. She rolled over and sat up. "What are you doing here?" She sniffed and rubbed her nose with her arm. 

"It's my fault," he told her.

"What?" She rubbed her eyes and stood up. Selphie did everything sluggishly, not her usual bouncy self. She just didn't care about being the happy one anymore. Look what had happened when she did try to be there for people.

"I killed Zell." Selphie looked shocked.

"You what?"

"No, I didn't directly kill him, but I made him do it. I told him he wasn't wanted, so he went and killed himself. I did it." Irvine stared at her and then crumpled to the floor in tears.

Selphie stared at him for a moment before she started sobbing herself. She knelt down next to him and put her arms around him. "You can't be blamed…it's something that he did himself. I'm sure he had many other things on his mind besides you. He named so many other people in his note. You weren't even a big part. Irvy, please stop crying." She hugged him tighter.

Squall parked the car in the parking lot and jumped out quickly. He shoved the keys in his pocket and began jogging inside. He asked random people along the way, "Have you seen Rinoa?" None of them knew until he came across Nida. "Nida, Nida, have you seen Rinoa?"

"I just can't believe it…he was so…he seemed so happy…" Nina said quietly.

"Nida!" Nina snapped to attention.

"I need to find Rinoa," he said to Nida. 

"Oh yeah, I heard you left. She's been really upset about that, on top of…you know," Nida said. He then pointed to the dormitory. "She's been in her dorm since they took Zell's body away."

Squall put a hand on his shoulder. Nida looked down at it, then back up at Squall. "Thanks," Squall said, and jogged towards the dorms. 

When he reached her door, he wiped his sweat off his forehead with his arm. Squall breathed in and knocked. He didn't hear anything and leaned his ear on the door to hear what was going on inside. Squall still heard nothing but silence. The door started to open and Squall leaned back, standing up straight. He then found himself face to face with a red faced Rinoa. Her nose and eyes were swollen slightly. She just stared at him, her mind not comprehending what was happening. 

"Rinoa…I'm so sorry," Squall said as he stepped forward. Rinoa's expression changed from a hollow stare to sad. She said his name and fell into his arms. She cried again. "I'm really sorry I left. I don't know why I did. I guess I just needed some time to myself, but I really didn't need to leave to do that. I could have just stayed in my room. I'm so sorry Rinoa." He stroked her hair and felt tears building. 

"I can't believe he's gone, forever. I keep thinking I'll just see him again tomorrow, and everything will be normal. Even after seeing him in his room like that…all bloody…" she started sobbing again, "Even after seeing that, it still seems unreal. God, I miss him so much."

Squall knew exactly how she was feeling. He couldn't accept it either. It didn't seem right for someone so young to die. And it didn't seem right for someone so young to hate their life so much that they felt taking their own life was better than living another day. Just from thinking about that, he started to cry silently. Even if it wasn't Zell, he would still cry. It was so sad for someone to feel that way, and then act on it, especially someone as young as he was. 

But no matter how much people wouldn't believe it, the fact remained that they would never see Zell alive again. They'd never be able to talk to him, joke with him, grow up with him. He died too young. Much too young. 

This one was a little short, I know, but I'm planning to do an epilogue. This way you can't make me write more! HAHAHAHA I'm so stupidly evil.


	4. Part Four

  
  


**Epilogue**   
  


The epilogue to Chicken Wuss. I've had this part in my head for a while, 

but never saw a good opportunity to insert it until now. In fact, why the hell not just make it a chapter, right? So here we go. This'll be short, unless it's long.   
  
  
  


-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-   
  
  
  


He walked along the freshly cut grass; his eyes on his feet, heading up the small hill. He caught glimpses of the large stones that he passed as he walked. Before long he was standing in front of one of those large stones. The large stone was carved into an upright rectangle and was ever so lightly weathered. The stone was almost 6 years old now.   
  


He squatted down in front of it and traced the letters carved on it. It read, simply:   
  


"Zell T. Dincht 

2673-2691 

We loved you dearly"   
  


It seemed like only yesterday, the day he had walked in to find Zell, bloody and no longer alive. And the note, the note that had made him depressed himself. Zell had praised him for making his life a living hell, saying that he was right for doing it because he was the only one who knew what he actually was. Seifer hated himself severely for being that way all those years ago.   
  
  
  


Seifer had changed dramatically. He was always a good person, helped other people, no longer fought or owned a gunblade. He had recently gotten married. Six months ago. He was settling down. Seifer had run away from Garden to Winhill and found it to be a peaceful, quiet town. Just what he needed to get over what he felt. He had picked up writing and it became his passion. He frequently sent articles to Timber Maniacs, but never saw any published. Seifer and his new wife were considering moving to Timber so he could start a career in writing.   
  


Seifer hadn't heard much about what had happened with the others. Occasionally he received a letter from Rinoa and she would update him briefly.   
  


Squall and Rinoa had stayed together. About three years after Zell's death, Rinoa became pregnant with his child. She gave birth to a baby girl who they named Piper. Rinoa said that they hadn't thought any about marriage themselves, but still were prepared to raise Piper together. In the next letter Seifer would get, Rinoa would announce that Squall had asked her to marry her, and she accepted.   
  


Irvine and Selphie didn't stick together. They broke up and Selphie moved back to Timber after the repairs were complete. Irvine moved back to Galbadia. That was about four years ago. Two years ago, Irvine had been out drinking all night and fell asleep in his hotel room and never woke up. He was found dead the next morning. The cause of death was alcohol poisoning. Seifer hadn't gone to the funeral. He hadn't gone to Zell's either. He hated funerals. He really wanted to get over that.   
  


Quistis was missing. She was just gone not long after Seifer left, and no one had seen her, anywhere. She wasn't presumed dead, just missing. Seifer assumed she ran away too, probably due to the events that at that time were recent. It was understandable. Seifer had let people know where he was though. He wrote to Rinoa, she being the only one he had really related to at Garden, besides Fujin and Raijin. He couldn't rely on them to write back.   
  


According to Rinoa's letters, Fujin gave up the yelling thing and started talking normally. Raijin still did his 'ya know' thing. Last he'd heard of them, they had started hiring more people to fill the disciplinary committee.   
  


Seifer placed the small rose he had picked up on the way in front of Zell's tombstone. He stood up fully and looked down at it. He still couldn't believe it. He came out here once a year to do exactly what he was doing now, and still none of it seemed real. Zell's body was under his feet that very second, and he still couldn't accept it.   
  


He rested his hand on the top of the tombstone and rubbed the top of it. He really wished he could have apologized to Zell. He would have done things so differently if he'd known what was going to happen. How did he let it get to that point, where he made a man take his own life? Did he really need to do that so much?   
  


Seifer ran a hand over his face and sniffed. Because of him, a life was taken that had so much going for it. If he hadn't spent so much time fussing over Zell being in his dorm, and if he had accepted what his friends were telling him earlier, Zell might have still been alive. Seifer knew that he definitely would have stuck up for Zell after that point, and that he would be his friend. He would have been there for him; a shoulder to cry on if he ever felt the way he was that day.   
  


Seifer wiped the tears that had started down his face.   
  


"What are you doing here?"   
  


Seifer turned his head to see a man standing twenty feet behind him. He looked somewhat familiar. His form, the way he held himself. He had short hair underneath the hat he wore. He had on a black long sleeved shirt and beige pants.   
  


"Did you hear me? I asked what you were doing here, Seifer."   
  


That voice   
  


"I'm visiting an old friend," Seifer replied, turning back to the grave. He heard the man approach him and was surprised when he grabbed his shoulder. He spun Seifer around.   
  


"How dare you call yourself Zell's friend," the man said. He took off his hat. He unveiled a face Seifer had almost completely forgotten, and a scar mirrored to his.   
  


"Squall."   
  


"Yeah. How could you call yourself his friend? You made his life miserable." Squall looked furious.   
  


"Congratulations," Seifer said.   
  


"For what?"   
  


"On having Piper. I never got to say that. I always wanted to. Is she here? Is Rinoa here too?" Seifer looked behind Squall and didn't see them.   
  


"They're in the car. I saw you from there and told them to wait."   
  


A moment of silence passed, and then,"I didn't consider myself Zell's friend six years ago, but I know that now I would have. Do you know why I went to see Zell?" Seifer asked.   
  


"I never could figure that outwhy?"   
  


"I was going to go apologize to him. For being an asshole. And for making his life miserable. It was too late though."   
  


"Why? That's not like you."   
  


"It is now. I've changed, Squall. I turned my life around. I don't fight; I don't even have my weapon anymore. I'm a writer. I'm a husband."   
  


"You? Married? I never thought that could be."   
  


"Well look at you, father to a three year old girl. Who'd have thought that the lone-wolf commander would be a father? Maybe one day you'll get married. Being married is wonderful. I've been married for six months to a woman named Lina. She's amazing. She's beautiful, smart, funny, and she's my best friend."   
  


"You really have changed." Squall looked back towards his car. "Wouldwould you like to meet Piper? And see Rinoa again?"   
  


Seifer smiled, "I'd love to."   
  


Squall began walking down the hill and Seifer caught up to him and said, "Oh, Squall, by the way?"   
  


"Yeah?"   
  


Seifer offered him his hand. "It's good to see you again."   
  


Squall stared briefly at his hand, and then shook it. "It is." Squall shook his hand harder and smiled at him, and Seifer smiled back, and they walked toward the car.   
  


-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-   
  


The End. 

No more, ever. That's the end of Chicken Wuss, forever.   
  


Unless you want me to do something about the whole new setting I've mindlessly created 


End file.
